Owner defends controversial name of fish and chip shop
A Queensland woman has leapt to the defense of her eyebrow-raising business name, explaining the reason why she named her fish and chip business ‘The Battered Wife’.
Owner of the Innisfail take-away business, Carolyn Kerr, told 7 News she is a former victim of domestic violence and wanted the name to help advocate for change in the Far North Queensland community.
She wanted the title to publicly “make a noise” about domestic violence and encourage others to stand up against it.
Despite this, many “keyboard warriors” have accused the small business of making a mockery of the serious issue, leaving negative reviews of the shop online.
Among the reviews, however, are some from those who understand the motivation behind the name and have defended Ms Kerr’s decision.
“You get another five stars for the black eye you got for recently standing up for a sheila,” one man wrote.
One woman added: “To ‘those’, take it for the play on words that it is, or a history/situation you know nothing about.
“Why so many have chosen to be so aggressive amazes me – especially if you have ever been victims.”
Why owner settled on the controversial name
By taking on the name, Ms Kerr told 7 News she wanted to locals to understand her fish is “the only battering anyone need know”.
The phrase is also written on her shopfront window beside its ‘The Battered Wife’ sign.
The former cop said she had experienced numerous domestic situations first-hand from both sides of the fence, and found too many people “sweep it under the carpet”.
“Your head’s saying ‘what the hell are you doing? Get out of this’. But the heart’s going, ‘Oh, I love him’,” she said of her own experience.
She is standing by the controversial name, in the hopes it will help make people accountable and open the dialogue around domestic violence.
“With everything we’ve got wrong with our society at the moment, it’s my own little way to put my own personal stamp on what shouldn’t be. And make people talk about it, make people think about it.
“I don’t make fun of it,” she said.
Name incites abuse from those ‘condemning violence’
However the message is not sitting well with some who believe the name only glorifies domestic and sexual violence.
On Tuesday The Battered Wife was forced to close its doors following threats to smash the store windows.
Ms Kerr said the “keyboard warriors” were becoming the people they condemn by threatening violence on her and her shop.
“We need a lot more people to get involved and stand up [against domestic assault] and say ‘no’,” she said.
“If I’m making a difference, making a noise just with a little shop with a little name in a little country town in Far North Queensland, then so be it.”
The outrage comes as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pushes for more to be done to tackle the issue of violence against women, after 11 women were murdered across the country in October alone.
